I honestly believe those with their own personal sites are just so high up the chain that their commissions are so pricey to begin with. Face it. Own website? That must take a bit of cash to make it stand up and thus the more they charge YOU for a drawing, be it a doodle or colored. As for having a personal site to operate from over an FA, yeah I don't get that logic either. As for read the rules, they must have it there because of said artist being screwed over by a customer before, but that's why there's FA Journals. Filling out a form? Taking it way too far I say.


Well, there's my boat take.

To be honest I think you're Over reacting just a tad, but yes, you are generally right.
Though I will admit I would love to have a suit from Clockwork Creature, or
Monoyasha/flurrycat, or one of those other artists that people jizz themselves over
and attempt to kiss ass to in the hopes that their design is chosen, I don;t even
bother. One, they are always full up on commissions as is and two, why pay 4 times
as much for a suit when I can get the same for less and have it faster and better
from someone else who is less well known? (( Seriously, I would have had to pay
$7525 for a suit from Clockwork Creature )).

But on the issue of personal sites for artists? It makes sense in the long run to have
your own site so an update or something important isn;t lost in the throws of all the
posts that one has to look through. I am not watching many individuals but when I
don;t log in for a bit, things pile up and I'm not about to dig through 50+journals
looking for one thing. I'd rather be able to go to a site and bam, what I want is
usually right there on the front page in a small section called "News" or "Updates." It
makes things very easy. Especially if you are waiting for when commissions open. Yes
you have to go through a few extra annoying steps to order a commission or ask for a
quote (( like those surveys you have to answer to get your free $25 Amazon.com gift
card. I want that time back but at the same time, I feel accomplished; I got
something for free!!! All for answering a questionnaire about what I thought about
breast implants in young teens)), but that streamlines things for the artist, it allows the
to look at their site and go "Okay, this person wants this, this person wants this, etc."
instead of, like on FA for example "Okay, this person wants this, this person is asking
how their commission is coming along and they haven;t even paid yet, this person is....
telling me how much they love my art and how they...ummmm okay...? And this
person...I didn;t need to see that image..."

So in short you may be bitching about nothing but you do have some valid points, but they
have the sites to make it easier for them. Some people may be driven away by the difficulty
and slow responses, but a greater number will still flock to the sites and wait their turn.

I don't know, if you're a commission artist, there isn't much you really need outside of FA. I can understand the trepidation of updates or server issues causing lost information, but that can also happen on personal sites as well. And it's just as easy for them to post journals with a form to fill out that people can note to you directly (I've seen artists do that here). It's neat, easy and gets you all the info you need without having to ever leave the site.

Now, being on top of stuff like that? lol, It's a game, this is why I watch like 500 artists. xD, So I can just skim through the journal titles and look for the recent ones marked "open for commissions." lol

But generally? I just ask artists directly via note. ;3, You'd be surprised how efficient a note like: "Hi there, was just wondering if you were open for commissions or if you take trades. =D, Sorry if I didn't see the info on your page, I tried to find a place where you said you were taking them or not. ^^" Because a lot of the times it's listed on their journal header or in their profile info, so it's not just the journals themselves that mark when they're open.

And generally? Artists are all too eager to respond. I normally don't have to wait more than 24 hours before I get a response usually like, "ABSOLUTELY! My price list is here [link], just let me know what you'd like. =D"

People seem to think artists are unapproachable... xD, I do my best to bother every artist I commission directly since I generally want to brainstorm with them on the commissions itself. lol

I mean, it's the same with fursuits, right? You wanna' be able to talk to the artist and discuss the best options. ;3

I don't wanna' be just commission form #24 with my info all there with me unable to ask questions. That's ghey. lol, I want to be Kaybee, able to discuss the concept with the artist and see if they get as excited as I am to see it come to life. ;3

But then, here we get to the place where we start talking about the artists who are in it for the money, and the artists who are in it for the art, and...lol, those are two very different types of artists. xD

The way I see it, it does take some cash to host a site, especially with its own domain name. Some potential commissioners who are looking for a serious commission see professionalism in a site. Think of it as a portfolio you would hand a potential employer. (most) artist's sites are neat, organized, and easy to navigate. On dA it's a bit easier to organize stuff, but with a personal site you can have two different links for SFW and NSFW art, so if your employer just wants to see the SFW stuff, they don't have to sort through all of your NSFW examples. Just a click on a thumbnail and be on your way.

But I digress. Sometimes, for the artist, it's just easier to have everything on their own website where they can edit a few things than go through and link to 1500 different pages.

As well as TOS... sometimes an artist just does it so they SOUND professional (I've seen some young artists with outrageous TOS, and I wonder why the hell they do that). Others have you follow those links and forms because they used to not have to do it in the past, but someone screwed them over in the past. For example, one of my favourite artists, Culpeo-Fox, used to do trades, but won't take them anymore unless its from someone she trusts, because, as a popular artist, someone might try to get free art out of her and never do their part of the trade after she posts hers. It only takes one person to ruin it for many. Most artists don't do that though, and do just do the "read this and note me" thing.

Sometimes, also, forms help the commissioner keep track of things. If I took a lot of commissions, I'd want some forms that I can just look back to. It's easier to have a form that has everything you need instead of digging through notes and galleries to find a reference picture for a character. I've had to do that before, because I lost the link for the reference picture, and wasn't smart enough to save the damn thing, so I had to search through the gallery until I found the ref pic.

I guess it all comes down to the artist, I personally don't want a separate site for my commission information (for my comic, yes, but not for commissions), but I would want to go with forms so I don't lose anyone's commission information. That way I can be as efficient and practical as possible. I can understand where you're coming from with wanting ease with contacting and seeing information.

TL;DR: It takes one to ruin it for everybody.

It's two very different things if you're a professional artist who does work for actual, honest to God employers as opposed to being a casual commission artist. As a portfolio for professional work, absolutely, that makes sense to me.

But if you're the type of artist that caters to a community specifically like FA does, you don't NEED a website. And it's easy to post a journal asking "fill out this little info form and note it to me." It's far easier to do that than to send me somewhere where I have to weed through a bunch of useless info.

So, specifying that I mean furry commission-specific artists, not honest to God illustrators, designers and concept artists who look for work with real companies.

Yeah, for people who cater to this community, unless someone screwed you over BIG time in the past, you don't REALLY need your own site (fursuiting, however, I can understand needing a website). I'd personally never make a site for commission work if I draw furry porn XD

Haha, yeah, seriously. xD